The Demon Attractant
by Maladroit Dexterity
Summary: Angel and the gang find a girl whose power is to attract evil. When the girl starts to bring all the evil in L.A. towards Wolfram & Hart, can they find a way to stop her power? Set right after ‘Hellbound’. RR
1. Banishing

Disclaimer: I don't own Angel  
  
Note: This one takes place after 'Hellbound'.  
  
Prologue  
  
The vampires were on their way.  
  
They could smell it. The blood. The teenager was only a block away, and they could smell her.  
  
She was alone in an alley, in one of L.A.'s shadiest neighborhoods. The opportunity was too good. There was also something about her. something that drew the vampires to her that wasn't related to the fact that she was easy prey. It was something else.  
  
They dropped down from the building in front of her. She didn't scream. She seemed like she knew that they were coming. Her lack of fear was evident on her face as they formed a circle around her and moved in, making the circle smaller and smaller. One of the vampires became impatient and lunged at her unprotected neck.  
  
He went flying.  
  
The other two vampires watched as he flew up ten feet then dropped back to the ground, dazed.  
  
Another one lunged. Then another. They both got within two feet of the girl before something - an invisible shield? - hurled them backwards.  
  
The girl looked around calmly. She walked towards the one who'd lunged at her first and touched his face. It was a cold night, and the vampire was barely warmer than the air around it. She concentrated. The vampire's body shimmered, then turned to dust. The girl moved on to the other two. They were sprawled out on top of each other. She touched their faces. In seconds, they also turned to dust.  
  
She straightened up and sighed. Then she left the alley quietly, as if nothing had happened.  
  
Note: If you want me to continue this story, review!!! I'll probably continue it anyway, but reviews are fun. Hehe. 


	2. Side Effect

Disclaimer: Don't own it.  
  
Note: Thanks to you guys who reviewed!! This chapter is a lot longer than the last one. Review!! Remember, this takes place right after Hellbound.  
  
Chapter 1   
  
Wesley walked into Angel's office for one last meeting. It was late, and it had been a long day. He'd been waiting for the end of the day since morning, after dealing with the Reaper and Spike. Wesley wanted to turn in for the night. But there was one more issue he had to talk to Angel about.  
  
He found the vampire looking out his office window at the city, brooding again.   
  
"Busy?" he asked.  
  
"No. What do you want?"   
  
"Here."   
  
He handed Angel the folder he was holding. Angel turned away from the window and took it, but didn't open it. Instead he looked questioningly at Wesley.   
  
"So Fred can't make one of those recorporealizer things?"  
  
Wesley flinched inwardly at Fred's name. His failed attempt at asking her out to dinner flashed in his head. "I'm afraid not," he answered. " There's a very slim chance that we'll be able to find a power source like the conduit's, and many of the parts we used were irreplaceable. And I thought you didn't want to recorporealize him again?"  
  
"Well, it's just... it's annoying how he pops up all the time. If he was corporeal, we could put him in some kind of holding cell…" he continued, talking about ways to keep Spike away. He'd obviously forgotten about the folder, which was unlike him. Spike must be bothering him more than usual.  
  
"Er, Angel? The folder?"  
  
"Oh, right." Angel opened it. It was filled with various papers and words that didn't make sense to him. "What is this stuff?"  
  
"I checked the count of demons and various evils that the mystics located today in Los Angeles, and as you can see, the numbers have gone up drastically from the count last week. I looked at other cities in the area, and look," Wesley pulled a map out from the folder. "It starts here," he pointed, "in Longview, Washington about five months ago. The high count goes down into Oregon, through California, and ends here, in Los Angeles."   
  
"Let me guess, whatever's causing this is traveling?"  
  
"That's what I suspect."  
  
"What do you think it is?"  
  
Wesley shrugged. "I'm not sure, but-"   
  
He stopped as Angel's eyes suddenly rolled up into their sockets; his body convulsed, then fell onto the floor.   
  
From Angel's point of view, the experience was entirely different. An unnatural feeling of good washed over him, enjoyable for him, but Angelus detested it. It sunk into him, down to his soul. He could feel the power it contained. For a moment, he was suspended in a whirl of indistinguishable thoughts and visions, surrounded by smells, sights, and sounds he couldn't comprehend.  
  
Then it was gone.  
  
He was on the ground. Wesley was kneeling over him with a concerned look on his face. He immediately stood up, walked to the door, and looked out.  
  
When he had last checked, there had been about two-dozen people out in the lobby. Now, there were two-dozen people sprawled out on the floor, unconscious.  
  
"What the hell is all this noise- oh," Gunn said, as he poked his head out and saw the scene.  
  
"Hey Angel, what happened?" asked Lorne from the top of the stairs. His assistant was on the ground next to his feet.  
  
Fred, Knox, and Spike came from the direction of the science lab.   
  
The elevator chimed, and Eve walked out. As she walked through the lobby to Angel's office, she seemed unsurprised. "It's the same everywhere in the building," she informed Angel.  
  
They gathered in Angel's office, on the expensive leather couches and chairs he used for meetings with clients.   
  
"I don't want to be repeating myself, but I guess I'm gonna have to. What the hell happened back there? First I'm in the hallway talking to Christina, the next, everyone seizes up and I'm the only one left standing! What-"  
  
Angel looked intently at Lorne. "So you didn't feel it then?"  
  
"I didn't feel anything. Just heard a bunch of screams." Gunn said. "I just went out to tell people to keep it down."  
  
"Okay, did anyone else feel it but me?" Angel asked.  
  
Knox, Spike, and Eve answered him at the same time.   
  
"Me."   
  
"I did."  
  
"I felt it."  
  
"It's possible that whatever it was only affects evil." Wesley commented.   
  
"I'm not evil!" protested Knox.  
  
"But according to your contract, you belong to the senior partners, who are evil," Gunn replied.  
  
"I'm not evil anymore!" Spike muttered.  
  
"Of course you're not," Fred assured him.  
  
"This might be a good time to tell them what to do," Eve advised Angel.  
  
"Everybody, quiet!" They stopped their arguments and looked at Angel. "Wesley: get your people to look in your books, see if anything like this has happened before or see what it is and who caused it. Fred, Knox: see if you can trace the power to its source. Lorne; call your contacts; see how far this has spread. Gunn: start waking everyone up. I'm going to go out, see if there's anything weird out there."  
  
All of them agreed then left, except for Spike.   
  
"Well, good work, Angel. I guess I'll call it a night," Eve called on her way out. Angel sensed something strange about her, but he dismissed it. He was happy to get rid of her, and the last thing he wanted was for her to stay.  
  
Spike stretched out on one of the now empty couches. "Guess it's you and me then, seeing that you didn't give me a special job to do," he said, giving Angel one of the grins that he hated.  
  
Angel ignored him. He went out the door and headed straight for his car garage.  
  
Spike followed. He was curious about the big bad that started the whole fiasco.   
  
*****  
  
Right then, the girl hated herself.  
  
She always ended up doing that, in every city she visited - banishing evil. That's what she called it anyway. Banishing sounded better than killing.   
  
It had a side effect, which was why she hated doing it. She wasn't sure what it was exactly, but she saw it happen once, when a bunch of things with weird bumpy faces and fangs attacked her. One attacked her, and she punched him. But the second she touched him, he turned to dust, and all the others seized up and collapsed. When she ran through the city later, she saw all sorts of people lying on the ground, with paramedics surrounding them and people screaming and running.  
  
Still, banishing them was better than letting them go on and kill someone with no weird powers.  
  
But now she had to move quickly and hide. She wasn't sure how strong her power was, and if someone really powerful came along, she didn't want to find out if she was strong enough to fight it.  
  
*****  
  
Eve was standing outside the building, waiting impatiently for the valet to get her car. She was leaving the city. She would call the Senior Partners and ask for a transfer. They would listen to her. If they didn't, she'd leave anyway. She wasn't the one who'd sent herself to this dimension.  
  
There was no way that she would stay in the same city as the demon attractant. Her plans to regain power would be ruined if the attractant got to her. Even though Angel and everyone else were oblivious to the attractant's powers, she wasn't.   
  
She took out her cell phone. It was strange, the thing that kept her in touch with the Senior Partners, some of the most powerful beings in any dimension, was as normal as that. But of course, last time she saw, it didn't look like a cell phone on their end of the line.   
  
"It's Eve. I need a transfer..."  
  
Note: You'll find out more about the girl in the next chapter, I promise. To Christina A. fans: sorry about making her evil! My sister hates her, and I just put that in for her, lol. Review!! 


	3. Picture Perfect

Note: Sorry this took so long! I'll try to finish the next chapter faster.  
  
Chapter 2 - Picture Perfect  
  
The girl ran quickly through the back alleys of LA, dodging dumpsters and the occasional homeless person. Nothing else tried to attack her, fortunately. She was too tired to fend off any attacks after banishing three bumpy-faced things in a row. She intended to use her remaining energy for other things, like running the half-mile from that particular alley to the abandoned office building she'd been staying at for the last week. It was a pretty good place. Lots of rooms, only a few other crashers, doors that locked, and a very small number of rats.  
  
She had a plan. It was the same thing she always did, in every place she'd had to run away from. After going to the office building and getting her things, she would use some of her money for a bus ride to a new city in a new state, like Santa Fe, or at least Phoenix. There, she would lay low for as long as she could, or until her aunt found her and dragged her back home - which she hoped wouldn't happen.  
  
It wasn't a very good plan, but at least it would take her away from L.A.  
  
She hoped that any bumpy-faced things around had bad hearing, because the thick, clunky shoes she wore thumped loudly with every step she took. Silently, she berated herself for not getting different shoes when she ran away from her aunt's house. But there hadn't been any time then.  
  
And there wasn't any time now. She pushed herself to run faster, in her head thanking all the coaches in every sport she'd been in for keeping her in shape.  
  
*****  
  
"So, where're we headed?" Spike asked, as he leaned back in the seat of Angel's fancy Viper, pretending to look relaxed and comfortable. The truth was, he couldn't feel the chair at all. But it was fun to make Angel mad.  
  
Angel scowled at the sight of him sprawled out on his expensive leather seat. "We're not going anywhere. Get out of my car."  
  
"Make me not dead."  
  
"No."  
  
"Well then," Spike mocked, "I guess we can't always have what we want, can we?"  
  
Before he could retort, Angel's cell phone rang. "Hello?"  
  
Fred's voice came from the other end of the line. "Angel?"  
  
"Fred? Did you locate that thing?"  
  
"Um, no, sorry," she said apologetically. "The equipment for that is impossible to use with just two people, so me and Knox are waking people up to help. But actually, I was calling to tell you to bring whatever the creature is back here alive so we can see what it is. 'Cause you know, you get carried away sometimes during fights..."  
  
Spike snickered.  
  
"... just don't kill it, please? It could be something important."  
  
"Right," Angel agreed, then ended the call. Without another word or glance at Spike, he climbed into the driver's seat and pulled out of the garage. He was so quick that he caught Spike off guard, leaving Spike's body sitting where the passenger's seat had been only moments before.  
  
Spike drifted down slowly to the floor. He stared out after Angel's car.  
  
"Idiot," he grumbled.  
  
*****  
  
In five minutes, the girl was running up the office building's stairs to her room. The door was unlocked. She climbed onto the cheap wooden desk near the wall. When she put her arms up, Her fingertips barely reached the removable ceiling tiles. She jumped and pushed one of the tiles sideways, revealing about two feet of space from the tiles to the roof. She jumped again, but this time instead of moving tiles, she put her hand in the space and pulled out a blue backpack.  
  
She let out a sigh of relief. The backpack and its contents were all she had left of her old life. She was glad no one had stolen it. Her idea of leaving it behind probably hadn't been one of her best decisions, but it was easier to go places when she wasn't carrying it. To reassure herself that it was untouched, she opened it.  
  
Everything was where she left it, but the girl dug through it until she found the most important thing she had packed.  
  
It was a candid picture taken by her aunt last summer during mid-afternoon. It was set in the shade of a big tree at a park near to where she used to live. Her father, Lucas Shane - a tall, handsome, man with blond hair and blue eyes - was leaning against the big tree alongside her mother, Megan Shane. Megan's skin was a few shades darker than the pale cream color of her husband's, thanks to her mother's - the girl's grandmother's - Asian and Spanish roots. The girl's mother was a beautiful woman, and it was always a complement when people told the girl how much she looked like her, which was often.  
  
One of her father's hands was playfully twirling one lock of her mother's dark, wavy hair around his finger. They were both laughing. Standing by them was the girl herself. She was laughing along with them.  
  
The girl forgot all about running away and leaned onto the wall, slowly sliding down until she was on the ground hugging her knees. When was the last time she had laughed like that, she wondered?  
  
It was a little hard for the girl to believe that her life had been like that only five months ago. Back then; all she had to worry about was her next test or her next softball game. Now she worried about whether she would be able to eat.  
  
The girl turned the picture over. There, in her aunt's neat print, it said, "Lucas, Megan, and Isabelle Shane. Summer 2003."  
  
Finally remembering her plan, she put the picture back into her backpack. She had to move on. This was definitely not a good time for reminiscing.  
  
*****  
  
Angel was really starting to regret using a car to find the source of the power. The traffic in the power's aftermath was the worst he'd ever seen. And with him being more than 240 years old, that was saying something.  
  
Giving up on using the road, he turned into the parking lot of a fancy restaurant with big bay windows. There were many other expensive cars in the lot. He parked as close as he could to the entrance, so a thief would hopefully bypass his car and go for a different one.  
  
Angel wasn't going into the restaurant, though. Instead, he crossed the street and walked into an alley.  
  
A strong sense of leftover magic cut through the middle of the path. Whatever the creature was must have been leaking massive amounts of magic when it had passed, Angel concluded, since it was powerful enough to feel. There was also a scent, going northwest, towards the industrial part of L.A. It seemed human, but when Angel bent over the ground to smell it again, he could tell that it was also something else he didn't recognize.  
  
Angel stood back up. He knew which way the creature had gone; now all he had to do was find it.  
  
Note: Her name is finally mentioned. I tried to stay true with the old- fashioned names Joss usually gives to the female characters on the show (Cordelia, Winifred, etc.). Review!! 


	4. Escape

Note: Hey, everyone! Sorry for taking so long on this one. I've been feeling kinda uninspired lately. But hey- I was a runner-up at the Barefoot Awards, so thanks to them! Also, does anyone know how to get italics to show up when you upload stuff onto fanfiction.net? If you do, E-mail me please!! Maladroit_dexterity@hotmail.com Thanks!  
  
Chapter 3 - Escape  
  
A light rain sprinkled over L.A., slowly fading away the scent and residual magic left over from the creature. But Angel had stopped following those clues a long time ago. A subtle force had caught hold of him after only a few minutes of following the trail, pulling him along the same path. He knew that there was something strange going on, but he didn't stop it. After all, it was bringing him to where he wanted to go.  
  
He passed by buildings and empty lots... crossed roads full of post-power traffic... walked into an deserted office building surrounded by warehouses and factories... climbed the stairs inside... opened the door at the end of the stairs... bumped into someone standing on the other side of the door.... The collision jolted him out of his almost-passive state.  
  
"Ow! What is wrong with you?"  
  
Angel looked at the person who had just spoken. She was sprawled out on the floor - he had probably bumped into her harder than he thought. Judging by the many layers of clothing she was wearing and the overflowing backpack she was holding, he guessed that she was a squatter in the building. Strange, she only looked about fourteen or fifteen. Definitely not older than sixteen.  
  
He reached down to help her up. "Sorry. Are you o-"  
  
The instant his hand touched hers, the same feeling he had experienced earlier at Wolfram & Hart came back. Again, his eyes rolled up into their sockets, and his body became rigid. The same feelings, sights, smells, and tastes attacked his senses. He lost his sense of time. Power dove down to his soul.  
  
Then it stopped. Just like the first time. His body relaxed. He lifted his head up from the ground to look at the girl, who was unconscious. Now he was convinced that she was the creature he was looking for, even though he was expecting something a little more big and strong looking.  
  
Something new in the room averted his attention. It was a dim, fading light coming from the palm of his right hand. He ran his fingers over it. The light was almost gone, but a scar-like symbol was taking its place.  
  
"Aargh," the girl moaned. She clutched at her head.  
  
...bring whatever the creature is back here alive...  
  
What Fred had said on her previous call interrupted his thoughts. Bringing the girl back was more important than inspecting his hand at the moment.  
  
Angel grudgingly pulled out a tranquilizer gun he'd found in the back of his car. Obviously, someone had seen to it that he was properly equipped. Probably Eve - he hated her as much as he hated guns. But it felt wrong to hit the girl, even one that might not even be a real girl.  
  
Ffflltt.  
  
The tiny dart shot out of the gun's barrel so fast that it would be impossible for humans to see. But Angel wasn't human. He watched it cut through the air like an arrow, expecting it to puncture the skin of the girl's neck.  
  
But it didn't. Only a few inches away from its expected destination, it bounced off something invisible and fell to the ground. Angel stared in confusion.  
  
The girl moaned again. She lifted her head and saw Angel staring at her.  
  
She stared back.  
  
*****  
  
Gunn walked with determination past the line for the nearest elevator. Most Wolfram and Hart employees were already conscious. They peered curiously at him as he boarded.  
  
"Official business," he half-stated, half-explained to the people already inside. They all got out quickly.  
  
He was worried. Lorne had told him that there were people and demons feeling the effects of the power all over L.A., but not in cites around it. That meant it was definitely magical, not natural. Wesley's department was looking into it, using their old books and usual connections, but so far they had no leads.  
  
The silver button appeared almost immediately after the doors closed. He pressed it and waited to be transported to the White Room. He was sure the conduit would be the one with answers to their questions.  
  
The doors opened to reveal a vast, howling, space the darkest shade of black. Gunn staggered back and held onto the bar that went around the elevator's sides. The extreme wind threatened to suck him into the abyss.  
  
He yelled his right hand lost its grip. His other hand was also slipping. He tried frantically to get his right hand back onto the bar. Then the left hand slipped-  
  
*Oh God, this is it. I'm dead.*  
  
-and his body hit the other side of the elevator.  
  
Dazed, he reached up and pressed the 'CLOSE DOORS' button as hard as he could.  
  
The doors closed. The tug and howling of the wind stopped. Gunn nearly passed out from relief.  
  
Then the terrible realization finally hit him - the conduit was gone.  
  
*****  
  
That guy had just shot a dart at her. Her mind was still trying to figure out why she just woke up on the ground when she had been standing up only a while ago.  
  
She stared at the guy. He looked normal, just out of place because of his obviously expensive clothes. And of course, the dart gun he was pointing at her.  
  
"I'm guessing you're not here to give money to the poor," Isabelle said, eyeing the gun. She tried to seem confident, but her voice quavered. "Who are you?"  
  
"He's an idiot," someone new answered, before the man holding the gun could reply.  
  
A man with platinum-blond hair sauntered in. "Hello, Angel," he said cheerfully to the man holding the dart gun. "Did you really think you could shake me off that easy?"  
  
The man holding the gun didn't even look at him. He kept his eyes on Isabelle. "Spike, I'm kinda busy right now. Go away."  
  
Spike scoffed. "'Go away'? I'm not a employee for you to boss around. I'm here strictly to haunt you, and also hopefully get you killed."  
  
Well that was nice to know, Isabelle thought to herself. A plan formed in her head. The Spike guy looked pretty strong, and from the moment he walked in, it was obvious that he didn't like Angel. Maybe if he fought him, she would have enough time to get away. All she had to do was convince him.  
  
On the other hand, Angel looked stronger than him. And he was the one holding the gun. And he probably wouldn't just let her talk Spike into helping her escape. And if he shot Spike before she could get away and then caught her...  
  
She decided to take a chance.  
  
"Hey you, blond guy - Spike."  
  
He turned to her. "What?"  
  
"I-," she hesitated. How was she going to ask him? Should she be straightforward, like -  
  
"Want to punch him for me so I can get away?"  
  
Spike considered it for a moment. He shrugged. "Sure."  
  
Angel was thrown across the room. Spike laughed. Isabelle ran out the door, not pausing to even see if anyone was following her. As she went down the stairs, she could hear Angel yell, "You dumbass! She's the one we have to bring back!" Spike said something she couldn't understand, but by the time she was outside the front doors she could hear two pairs of feet running after her.  
  
She entered an alley that would lead her to a more populated part of the neighborhood. There were more people there that she could blend in with. It wasn't until she was halfway through the alley that she realized that she should have taken the sidewalk route instead. At least there would have been a few drivers she could possibly flag down. In the alley, she was alone. Alone with two big, strong guys running after her.  
  
She stopped and glanced back the way she came. She couldn't see or hear the two men. Maybe they had given up. She relaxed and sighed in relief.  
  
Then in the corner of her eye, she saw a movement. She ducked.  
  
The fist came down and hit her on the side of the head anyway.  
  
Note: Review!! 


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